A Column for Mercur"

Mercury the Wonder Cat says it is time to give him some publicity. And since he is more or less in charge of things around here, here is his column. Cats are amazing animals. Mercury wanted to write it, but I had to say no. After all, I have a deadline.

I am a cat person. That is not to say I don't like dogs, but I am a cat person.

I had a series of Siamese cats, but when the last one died I said, "no more." But when son Dave and friend Terry kept nagging me, I gave in. One Saturday afternoon Terry hauled me around to all the animal adoption agencies. Finally, at one of the shelters, I was looking at a handsome orange and white feline when Terry returned from the office, and held a short conversation with that cat. The she turned to me and said, "Henrietta, that's your cat." And was she ever right? He is a gem.

He was two years old and had been very well cared for and well trained. He arrived at my house a perfect gentleman. He is a lover, not a fighter.

I named him Mercury. The God Mercury had wings and this one got to the top of everything in the house. And the Phoenix Mercury is my favorite women's pro basketball team.

Mercury is quite content in "his" apartment at the Commons. And the words, "Assisted Living" were designed for him. Everything is furnished at a minimum expenditure of energy on his part.

He often sleeps on my favorite end of the couch. It is usually easier to share it with him than to move him, but I must be careful not to sit on any protruding parts.

He supervises my showers each morning. Periodically he sticks his head in to see that I haven't disappeared, and then his little cat brain wonders why in the world a human would want to stand in the rain.

When he is awake he follows me around from room to room. When I am working at the computer he is usually sitting on the table beside the monitor. Robertson Davies, a Canadian journalist, explains this, "Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons."

He smells everything, including guests. But he does not damage anything, except occasionally my ankle when we get to playing a bit too hard.

He sleeps with me, of course, but the whole bed is his territory. Sometimes he tries to push me out, and other times he takes up his guard post on the outside corner.

But best of all are the times when he sits on my lap. He starts with his tail in my face and curls around so that he is staring at me. He has heavy fur and is so very soft. I rub his throat and ears and cheeks and he purrs and so do I.

I am amazed at the perfection of the feline body. It is flexible beyond imagination. The front paws can bend either way, making them useful for walking, for begging or for sleeping. As I watch him, it seems that the human body is not nearly so perfect. but we do have usable thumbs.

Mercury the Wonder Cat is warm and soft and very loving and a wonderful companion. So, when he asks me to write about him, I am happy to do it.